Freshman rescues Kellogg in opener

BOISE – Baskets were hard to come by early for both Priest River and Kellogg during Thursday’s opening round of the State 3A girls basketball tournament.

While PR’s Spartans found their stroke only to watch it dissipate again, Kellogg’s Wildcats rode a freshman into today’s semifinals at Bishop Kelly High School.

American Falls scored the last nine points of the day’s first contest to post a 58-49 victory and send Priest River into the consolation bracket.

Kellogg pinned its hopes on a girl who was in diapers the last time the Wildcats experienced the state tournament. Amanda Seeling scored 20 points in her team’s 44-30 victory over South Fremont from St. Anthony.

Making its first state tournament appearance in 15 years, Kellogg (15-10) moves into today’s 5:15 p.m. semifinal against American Falls (21-4). Priest River (13-10), which has visited state five times under coach Jamie Pancho, takes on South Fremont (15-9) in a 12:15 p.m. elimination game today.

Kellogg 44, South Fremont 30

The 6-foot-1 Seeling scored 11 points in the second half as Kellogg finally solved the mystery of the irons inside the BK gymnasium and steadily pulled away from the Cougars.

The Kellogg faithful groaned repeatedly in the first half as shot after shot rimmed out or clanged off the basket.

“Amanda did a great job,” Kellogg coach Steve Bourgard said. “As a freshman, she grew up a lot tonight.”

With fellow post Sue James, a senior, saddled with foul trouble, Seeling took the game over by scoring her team’s last nine points of the first half. The 15-year-old sparked a 14-4 run that put Kellogg in control of a game that began with a sluggish 4-4 first half.

“I would have to give it to our guards for getting me the ball and letting me drive,” Seeling said.

Seeling, who also had five defensive rebounds, said it was rare for her to get a chance to drive to the basket like she did.

But Bourgard had no complaints.

“She’s just a privilege to coach,” he said.

Seeling’s play negated the impact Bourgard was expecting from Britta Bartschi. South Fremont’s 6-foot junior center still finished with a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds), but the Cougars were unable to handle the complete game Kellogg threw at them.

When Seeling wasn’t getting clean passes and heading for the rack, the Wildcats strung together dominating scoring streaks with long-range shooting and defense.

Steph Cantrall made a 3-pointer to cap the game-changing 14-4 run early in the second half. Then she surfaced again with a jump shot and a steal and layup with about 3 minutes left in the period as Kellogg scored eight straight points to push its advantage to 31-13.

“We turned up the pressure a little,” Bourgard said. “That defensive pressure in the third quarter opened it up for us.”

Cantrall and Marissa Bush had three steals apiece. Bush also nailed a 3-pointer as Kellogg outscored South Fremont 16-7 in the third quarter.

”(Tonight), we expect a battle with American Falls,” Bourgard said. “They’re a heck of a ballclub, and we expect a heck of a battle.”

American Falls 58, Priest River 49

What Bourgard expects tonight from American Falls is exactly what the Beavers had with Priest River in the first round.

There were scoring streaks by both teams, including a 16-0 run that put Priest River in front 38-29 with 4 minutes left in the period.

After all the back-and-forth, both teams were even at 49 with 3:34 left in the game when Priest River’s Amber Hirst took an inbounds pass and stuck it back into the basket.

The Spartans seemed to get caught up in the frenetic pace of the game thereafter. A hurried shot allowed American Falls to go ahead when Shanelle Phillips popped a clutch 3-pointer with 2:09 left, and the Beavers never looked back.

“We came down and tried to push through people instead of realizing that the game was tied and we still had 3 minutes left,” Pancho said.

“I thought it was a great first-round game,” he added. “Both teams played hard.”